NEW HAVEN >> With President-elect Donald Trump set to take the country’s reins in five weeks, city leaders and community activists are pledging to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation under the new White House administration.

“The world is radically going to change. I know people are feeling a sense of calm, but I tell people this is the calm before the storm,” said Kica Matos, director of immigrant rights and racial justice for the Center for Community Change. “Let’s be clear: Under this new administration, undocumented immigrants and cities like New Haven are going to be under attack.”

Matos was just one of six speakers who joined state Rep. Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven, at a Unity Rally at City Hall Tuesday that advocated for New Haven becoming an official sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants.

The rally drew more than 70 people to City Hall’s atrium to listen to local leaders speak about the increasing need to protect immigrant families. City leaders called on area churches to provide asylum to those who seek it, universities to offer sanctuary to its students and for community-based organizations to be ready to defend the city’s status as “immigrant-friendly.”

Tuesday’s demonstration comes just one month after Trump vocalized plans during a “60 Minutes” interview to deport between 2 million and 3 million undocumented immigrants under his leadership, just one of the measures Trump has put forth to regulate immigration. Trump has also disclosed his intention to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, repeal President Barack Obama’s deferred actions on immigration and block funding for sanctuary cities that offer protection for undocumented immigrants. If implemented, these efforts have the potential to affect millions of Latinos across the country.

“The bull’s-eye is on us,” Matos said. “We cannot let President-elect Trump come into our cities. We have to do everything we can to protect ourselves and to protect our communities, especially our immigrant communities.”

In 2014, there were 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., according to Pew Research Center. The organization estimates there were 120,000 undocumented immigrants in Connecticut in 2014, a 10,000 drop from 2008. While no president has deported more immigrants than Obama — who has removed more than 2.5 million through immigration orders since 2009, according to ABC News — local advocates fear more individuals are at risk.

“They broke down eight homes and they took 32 people away, 32 hardworking immigrants who gave so much to our community. By the time they were done, our community was terrified. You know what we did? We stood up and we fought back,” Matos said.

In the years that followed, Matos said the community came together — African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latinos and whites — to protect the undocumented.

“We have to be ready to fight again and we have to do everything we can to protect our city,” Matos said. “We cannot let the politics of divisiveness and hate affect our community.”

Currently, there are 300 jurisdictions in the U.S. — such as San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Baltimore and Boston — that identify as sanctuary cities. While immigration is within the purview of the federal government, state and local officials have the power to decide their level of cooperation with the country’s governing body, Mayor Toni Harp said during Tuesday’s Unity Rally.

“In New Haven, we choose not to,” she said. “Waves upon waves of residents have arrived in New Haven for centuries and each has made its mark on the city, each has made this city prosper as a result of the contributions made. New Haven has always been a welcoming, accepting place and is better, richer and wiser for its diversity.”

It’s this type of diversity that has allowed the city and country to succeed, Candelaria said.

“The country does not reflect one ideology. This country reflects the philosophical ideas of a whole community. That is what makes America great,” Candelaria said. “We will not support the separation of families. You are not alone in the pursuit of happiness to pursue the American dream.”